Green Room

“I Feel Like A Victim Of Hurricane Katrina”

So on Wednesday, the mainstream media, Michael Bloomberg and Chris Christie were all tripping over each other to see who could praise Barack Obama the most for the work he’s done in response to Sandy. And the President was so efficient in his good jobness that he went back out on the campaign trail, seeing that his work there was finished.

Do you remember what then-candidate Obama said about George Bush’s response to Katrina?

The man who later became president insinuated that George W. Bush and the Republicans were holding off help for the victims in New Orleans on racial grounds. Extreme elements of the American left picked up on it, and continue to race bait in the current campaign. If you have any doubts, watch Chris Matthews on Hardball for five minutes.

Barack Obama made the claim, along with many other unkept promises, that in a crisis, he would not repeat the mistakes of George W. Bush, and did so while attaching nefarious undertones in his rhetoric. Now, President Obama has his own Katrina to deal with. It would seem only fair to do a compare and contrast a week later, wouldn’t it?

“It’s chaos; it’s pandemonium out here,” said Chris Damon, who had been waiting for 3 1/2 hours at the site and had circled the block five times. “It seems like nobody has any answers.”

Added Damon: “I feel like a victim of Hurricane Katrina. I never thought it could happen here in New York, but it’s happened.”

Damon, 42, had already been displaced to Brooklyn from his home in Queens, where he still lacked power, as did millions outside Manhattan – from Staten Island, the hardest-hit borough, to Westchester County and other suburban areas.

“The priorities are showing, simply by the fact that Manhattan got their power back,” he said, adding that Staten Islanders are used to being lower on the list. “We’re the bastard kids who keep getting slapped in the head and told to shut up,” he said.

‘We booby-trapped our door and keep a baseball bat beside our bed,’ Danielle Harris, 34, told the New York Daily News. The woman added that she has been hearing gunshots likely fired in the nearby housing project for three nights in a row. Meanwhile, local surfer Keone Singlehurst said that he stockpiled knives, a machete and a bow and arrow. ‘I would take a looter with a boa if a felt threatened I would definitely use it,’ he said. ‘It’s like the wild west. A borderline lawless situation.’ City Councilman James Sanders said he fears that things are going to get even worse. ‘We have an explosive mix here,’ he said. ‘People will take matters into their own hands.’

And there’a much more being reported in the affected region’s local news, both television and newspaper. But where’s the outcry from the far left? Where’s the charge that Obama is playing racial games and abandoning people? Where’s the sharp criticism of the President now from the mainstream media that enveloped their reporting during the days and weeks following Katrina?

I said it last week when the storm hit. Regardless of how MSM will try and spin it, the reality on the ground would trump the spin. The federal government cannot give the victims of this disaster the help they need in the time frame they need it, nor is that their role. But because Obama’s campaign message has been ‘more government now’, it’s very hard to make that case to an increasingly frustrated and panicky base when the President clearly isn’t really in command of the size of government he currently oversees. Even Mickey Kaus thinks this is going to hurt Obama on Tuesday.

If indeed Mickey is right, and Obama is losing a fraction of turnout because of the storm, and how the population in some of the forgotten areas are spiralling into dangerous territory, the President can reflect in retirement about what went wrong, and maybe go back and review what he said about George Bush in 2007. And then perhaps he might recall the words of his favorite pastor, Jeremiah Wright – the chickens have come home to roost.

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So on Wednesday, the mainstream media, Michael Bloomberg and Chris Christie were all tripping over each other to see who could praise Barack Obama the most for the work he’s done in response to Sandy. And the President was so efficient in his good jobness that he went back out on the campaign trail, seeing that his work there was finished.

..errr..Generalissimo..so one could say that they were basically ignoring Winston Wulf’s advice?.

I can’t believe Bloomberg is such an idiot he turned away some help from the National Guard because they carry guns. I know he’s an idiot and a nanny-stater, but I didn’t think (before now) that he’s THAT MUCH of an idiot and nanny-stater. Truly amazing.

As a New Orleanian, I do empathize – although Sandy didn’t do as much damage as Katrina, she did plenty, and at least, for us, we didn’t have to deal with the cold. Also, as much of an idiot as Blanco was she at least had the brains to let the Guard in to help.

The MSM only needs to hide the truth for a couple more days… The rest of the country must not find out what is really happening in the worst hit high population areas until after the election (if then).

Remember that by the second week with Katrina they made every dog standing with it’s feet on wet ground W’s fault. The standard is different this time, and as are the photos/video…

But the cold will start to drive the suffering up fast. Heaven help those people because this time the media will be trying to run cover for the Gov instead of prodding it along.

The first responders on the ground are local authorities, followed by truly generous and well prepared organizations like the Salvation Army and Catholic Charities. FEMA is too bureaucratic, as well as other statewide political organs. They just don’t don’t know how to deal with true emergencies, and as seen in NJ and NYC, the unions will prevent people who can help from helping, because politics trumps everything else.

I don’t have much use for the Red Cross. They have a huge overhead, and while the Salvation Army is handing out blankets, food, and offering a place to stay, they are handing out coffee and cookies.

Having been through several hurricanes, including Katrina, I’m glad Sandy wasn’t a very powerful hurricane. If it had been as strong as Katrina things would be much, much worse. Going through the storm is the easy part. The days and weeks after are where the hell comes in.
As we learned in Mississippi where Katrina actually hit, relying on the feds is foolish. (and it wasn’t Bush’s fault) Most of the rescue and recovery work after the storm was accomplished by private charities, good samaritan groups, and church groups. FEMA was a bureaucratic mess and just got in the way for the most part and the Red Cross is a joke.
The northeast is learning this lesson the hard way, like we did.

I have relatives that live in Brooklyn and Staten Island, so my first concern was for them when this hit (especially my cousin in SI, because she’s pregnant and on complete bed rest). They were lucky that they didn’t get hit that hard where they were, but can see the devastation around them in other neighborhoods. My cousin and aunt in Brooklyn haven’t been able to get in to work in Manhattan since the trains haven’t been running, and the courthouse where my cousin works has been closed since the storm.

The way this is being handled is a disgrace. I am hoping that whatever happens there the people of NYC elect a much better mayor that will think of ALL the boroughs when something like this hits.

Minot & Fargo versus NYC area.
No comparison.
Tornado alley disasters? No comparison.
It’s sad to see humanity act like base animals.
It does not have to happen.
Why do we see things so widespread in such socialist areas of the country?
Hmmmmmm…..